Today’s Mortgage Home Loan Rates at US Bank Corp (February 10, 2014)

Unlike other major mortgage providers operating in the American financial market, US Bank Corp (NYSE: USB) made no absolute change in its fixed and flexible home loan rates on February 10, 2014. Today, the eligible borrowers will be able to secure ideal home loan deals at the same benchmark 30 year fixed mortgage interest rates as yesterday.

In the standard, long term, home financing section, the bank is offering its popular 30 year fixed rate mortgage home loans at an interest rate of 4.500% and an annual percentage rate of 4.673% today. On the other hand, the relatively shorter, 15 year fixed rate mortgage home loan deals can be had at an interest rate of 3.500% and an annual return of 3.811%. The interested borrowers can also find the shortest, 10 year fixed rate home loan published in the loan books against a lending charge of 3.375% and an APR yield of 3.823% today.

The potential home buyers, who are unable to secure a conventional home loan due to their poor credit score or find it difficult to deal with the expensive down payments, can reap the benefits of the FHA backed 30 year fixed rate mortgage home loans, which are now carrying an interest rate of 4.375% and are backed by an APR yield of 4.879%. The short term, 15 year FHA fixed rate home loan deals are now carrying an interest rate of 4.000% and are backed by an APR yield of 4.565% today.

In the expensive lending section, the US based mortgage lender is offering its jumbo 30 year fixed rate mortgage deals at an interest rate of 4.625% and an APR yield of 4.777% today. However, on the other hand, the 15 year jumbo fixed rate mortgage deals are coming out at an interest rate of 3.750% and an APR yield of 4.008% today.

As of now, the bank is also providing the VA versions of 30 year fixed rate mortgage deals at an interest rate of 4.500% and an APR yield of 4.846% today. In the short term lending section, the customers can find the 15 year variants of 30 year VA fixed rate home loans can be had at a lending charge of 4.000% and an annual percentage rate of 4.721% today.

In the adjustable rate mortgage division, the interested borrowers can spot the best 3 year variable rate home loans coming out at an interest rate of 2.250% and carrying an annual return of 3.261% to begin with. However, when it comes to enjoying more flexibility, the borrowers can go for the 7 year adjustable rate mortgage deals, which are carrying a starting interest rate of 2.625% and an APR yield of 3.250%.

Disclaimer: The advertised rates were submitted by each individual lender/broker on the date indicated. Rate/APR terms offered by advertisers may differ from those listed above based on the creditworthiness of the borrower and other differences between an individual loan and the loan criteria used for the quotes.

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Sony’s Xperia series devices are known for their beautiful and sleek design. The company has continued with the same design philosophy on its new Sony Xperia Z4 tablet. The device is super slim and is reportedly the slimmest 10-inch tablet in the market right now. It measures just 6.1mm in thickness and weighs about 389 grams. The 10.1-inch display up front features an impressive 2K resolution. Like most Xperia series devices, the Xperia Z4 tablet too is IP68 certified. Hence, even if you immerse the table under water up to 1.5 meters for 30 minutes, it won’t suffer any damage.

As for the tech specs, the new Xperia tablet will feature Snapdragon’s fastest processor till date. The new Snapdragon 810 octa-core chipset will ensure the best performance on the device. There will be 3GB RAM onboard along with 32GB of internal storage on the base Wi-Fi only version. And if you feel that the storage isn’t enough, you can further expand it via MicroSD up to 128GB.

At the back, the tablet features an 8.1MP camera and up front, you get a 5MP shooter. It will run on the latest Android 5.0 Lollipop version with light Sony specific modifications. Sony has ensured that you don’t
have to worry about battery life on the device, even with its slim profile as it features a 6000 mAh Li-Po non-removable battery pack. The company claims that this is enough for almost 17 hours of continuous video playback. Like always, the Xperia Z4 tablet will be available in Wi-Fi only and Wi-Fi + 4G LTE versions. Sony has not yet announced an official price tag for the product but expect it to be around $500.

Along with the new Xperia tablet, Sony also announced a new good looking mid-range smartphone at the event called as the Sony Xperia M4 Aqua. Like the name suggests, the phone is built to last underwater and is IP65/68 certified. It comes with a metal body and a glass back design, making it all the more attractive. The M4 Aqua features powerful Snapdragon 615 octa-core 64-bit processor under the hood with 2GB of RAM. The 5-inch display up front sports a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. There is a 13MP rear camera with Superior Auto Mode and a 5MP front facing shooter. The device will run on Android 5.0 Lollipop and can last up to 2 days on a single charge. Sony will make the device available for sale by Spring 2015 for $335.

For the first time, researchers directly observed an increase in greenhouse effect due to carbon dioxide (CO2).

Scientists in the United States analyzed carbon dioxide’s increasing ability to absorb thermal radiation produced from Earth’s surface during 11 years at two separate locations. Research confirmed that emissions of carbon dioxide are warming the surface of the Earth.

The study, led by scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, shows that carbon dioxide was responsible for a 0.2 Watts/square meter increase throughout the span of 10 years. Their findings were published in the Nature journal.

In 2013, fossil fuels and the production of cement produced 35.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide, according to two international organizations.

“We’re strictly measuring the fact that increasing carbon dioxide concentrations are prompting the greenhouse effect. This is clear observational confirmation that when we add carbon dioxide to the environment, it will push the system to a warmer place,” says study lead author Dan Feldman at California’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

To observe the carbon dioxide contribution, researchers used spectroscopic instruments from the Atmosphere Radiation Measurement Climate Research Facility. They also utilized two other instruments to observe the CO2 contribution to heat by removing heat from clouds and water vapor.

“Numerous studies show rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations, but our study provides the critical link between those concentrations and the addition of energy to the system, or the greenhouse effect,” Feldman says.

China is the top contributor of greenhouse gases. Next position is held by United States.

A new study revealed that suicide rate for older adults aged between 40 and 64 years in the United States has increased by about 40% since 1999.

The study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, showed that external economic factors were present in 37.5% of all completed suicides in 2010, moving up from 32.9% in 2005.

Katherine A. Hempstead, who is one of the authors of a new study, says that “relative to other age groups, a larger and increasing proportion of middle-aged suicides have circumstances associated with job, financial, or legal distress and are completed using suffocation.”

“The sharpest increase in external circumstances appears to be temporally related to the worst years of the Great Recession, consistent with other work showing a link between deteriorating economic conditions and suicide. … Financial difficulties related to the loss of retirement savings in the stock market crash may explain some of this trend,” she added.

According to researchers, the sharp increase in suicide rate can be result of effects of the economic downturn of 2007-2009. They used data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) and analyzed 17 distinct suicide circumstances, with four indicators related to planning and intent.

Using data from the National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS), researchers were able to analyze 17 distinct suicide circumstances and four indicators related to planning and intent.

Suffocation, which is more likely to be used in suicides related to job, economic, or legal factors, increased disproportionately among the middle-aged. The study found that the number of suicides using suffocation rose by 59.5% among those aged 40-64 years between 2005 and 2010, compared with 18.0% for those aged 15-39 years and 27.2% for aged >65 years.

The suicide circumstances were grouped into three major categories: personal, interpersonal, and external. Personal circumstances include depressed mood, current treatment for a mental health problem, or alcohol dependence. Examples of Interpersonal circumstances are an intimate partner problem, the death of a friend, or being a victim of intimate partner violence. External circumstances are a job or financial problem, legal problem, or difficulty in school.

“Increased awareness is needed that job loss, bankruptcy, foreclosure, and other financial setbacks can be risk factors for suicide, the study authors noted.” Human resource departments, employee assistance programs, state and local employment agencies, credit counselors, and others who interact with those in financial distress should improve their ability to recognize people at risk and make referrals.”

The World Health Organization (WHO) says that an unsafe use of personal audio players could cause hearing loss. The agency is also urging people to limit the daily use of personal audio devices to less than one hour.

According to the agency, about 1.1 billion people are at risk of hearing loss because of the unsafe use of personal audio devices and exposure to damaging levels of sound at noisy entertainment venues such as bars and sporting events.

People should be very careful because hearing loss has potentially devastating consequences for physical and mental health, education and employment, the agency says.

WHO analyzed data from studies in middle- and high-income countries and found that, among teenagers and young adults aged 12-35 years, nearly 50% are exposed to unsafe levels of sound from the use of personal audio devices. The data also indicates that around 40% are exposed to potentially damaging levels of sound at entertainment venues.

What are unsafe levels of sound? According to WHO, unsafe levels of sounds can be, for example, exposure to in excess of 85 decibles (dB) for eight hours or 100dB for 15 minutes.

“As they go about their daily lives doing what they enjoy, more and more young people are placing themselves at risk of hearing loss,” state Dr. Etienne Krug, WHO Director for the Department for Management of Noncommunicable Diseases, Disability, Violence and Injury Prevention. “They should be aware that once you lose your hearing, it won’t come back. Taking simple preventive actions will allow people to continue to enjoy themselves without putting their hearing at risk.”

The agency recommended that the highest permissible level of noise exposure in the workplace is 85 dB up to a maximum of eight hours per day. Teenagers and young people can protect their hearing if they keep the volume down on personal audio devices and use earplugs when visiting noisy venues.

In addition, people can also limit the time spent engaged in noisy activities by taking short listening breaks. They can also use smartphone apps to monitor safe listening levels.

We are just two days away from the official launch of the Samsung Galaxy S6 flagship smartphone. In the past few months, the phone has been leaked so many times that almost everything from specs to design details are known about the device. So, before the company finally makes the S6 as well as the S6 Edge official, let’s take a look at what we know about the phone so far.

First of all, under Project Zero it is said that the company started the design of the phone from scratch. This was a much needed change since the previous generation galaxy models have been constantly criticized for its boring plastic design. In comparison, phones like LG G3 and HTC One M8 have been received great response from critics. So, it was about time that we saw a revamped design for the new S6.

The recently leaked pictures do confirm that the phone will looks way different than previous generations. The images reveal that the Galaxy S6 will most likely feature a metal frame with glass on both the back as well as the front. The sides will be smooth and there will be no MicroSD card slot.

Also, the back will be non-removable and the company will shift the SIM card slots to the sides. While this does look like a downgrade, it is said that Samsung could incorporate the recently announced super-fast flash storage in the new flagship. This 128GB flash storage is said to be 2.7 times faster than traditional storages which should make things like playing 4K videos much better than other phones.

For tech specs, the device will most likely feature Samsung’s greatest creation yet, the Exynos 7420 which has managed to impress everyone when it recently hit the benchmark sites. Expect 3GB RAM onboard and 32GB / 64GB / 128GB storage. For camera, it is said that there will be a 20MP shooter at the back with OIS and a 5MP front camera. Display will be of 5.1-inches with Quad HD resolution. Finally, for software it is said that the Samsung will get rid of the old TouchWiz UI for a brand new one which will be much more fluid and less filled with bloatware. Of course, it will be based on Android 5.0 Lollipop OS. Other probably features include an improved fingerprint sensor, LoopPay or Samsung Pay, 6.91mm thin body and 2600 mAh battery.

The company will be live streaming the event on Youtube on Sunday. Stay tuned for more updates.